Mechanisms and Consequences of Inclusive Inheritance

Heritability has traditionally been thought to be a unique feature of the genetic material of an organism, notably its DNA sequence. However, from studies of a variety of organisms, it is now clear that non-DNA sequence-based inheritance exists from microbes to mammals. The molecular mechanism(s) operating in humans remain opaque. However, understanding the impact of non-DNA sequence-based mechanisms is likely key to a full appreciation of heritability in health and disease. Here we will take ground-breaking steps towards understanding non-DNA sequence-based inheritance mechanisms and consequences. For this work we will focus on the imbred C. elegans model where we have the advantage of extensive genetic tools, a three day generation time and large numbers. In addition, we have identified the African Rift Lake cichlid radiation as a unique opportunity to dissect the contribution of epigenetics to plasticity, adaptation and heritability of phenotype in a vertebrate. While C. elegans gives us the ability to discover new mechanisms de novo we now also have developed paradigms to investigate the role of epigenetic inheritance on the plasticity and adaptivity in C. elegans and in cichlids. The latter is an important step towards a better understanding of inclusive inheritance in vertebrates more generally.